Real Madrid seals Inter "Cup"

Real Madrid, aiming to extend their record with a sixteenth title, secured the opening matchday clash of the new unified group stage of the UEFA Champions League with a 2-1 victory over visiting Inter Milan, thanks to two goals from the Italian champions. Meanwhile, Norway’s Erling Haaland scored a brace to guide Manchester City to a win in Portugal.

The defeat continued Inter’s woes against the Spanish giants, who have now won six consecutive matches against their Italian rivals. Jose Mourinho, who led Inter to a treble of the Champions League, Serie A, and the domestic cup in 2010 before leaving them at the end of that season to embark on his first managerial challenge with Real Madrid, has long struggled against the club. Inter have won only once in nine previous European visits to Madrid, a 2-0 victory in the second leg of the 1966-67 European Cup quarter-finals, before eventually reaching the final and losing to Celtic.

Real Madrid’s next test will also be in Italy, as they travel to face Roma on October 14. Inter, meanwhile, will host Belgian side Club Brugge. Brugge had lost the previous day to visiting English Europa League winners Aston Villa 3-2, with goals from Norway’s Hugo Ekitike (19), Germany’s Nicolo Tresoldi (61, penalty), and Scotland’s John McGinn (11), against Argentina’s Emiliano Buendia (29) and Senegal’s Nicolas Jackson (43).

Inter were the more dangerous side at the start of the match and came close to opening the scoring through Frenchman Marcus Thuram, but Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was outstanding in the early stages of his 100th appearance in the competition. Inter continued to threaten Courtois’s goal on several occasions, but the breakthrough came from the opposite end, from Real’s first serious attempt. Kylian Mbappe scored his 71st goal in the competition, finishing off a pass from Moroccan Ibrahim Diarra after a serious error by German center-back Jan Bisek (14).

Inter responded by threatening Courtois again, forcing him to intervene against a free-kick taken by Turkish midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu (16). However, a second major error came from Spanish goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who mishandled an easy pass from French teammate Benjamin Pavard. This allowed Uruguayan Federico Valverde to steal the ball and fire it into the net (23).

The score remained 1-1 until the 77th minute, when a cross from Argentine Lautaro Martinez allowed Brazilian Carlos Augusto to outmuscle Denzel Dumfries and slot the ball past Courtois.

Haaland was on target again, raising his tally to 59 goals in 59 appearances in the continental competition, as he scored a brace to secure English side Manchester City’s 2-0 victory over Portuguese hosts Porto. Haaland thwarted Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa’s efforts to save his team, as the 26-year-old had saved five shots in the first half, most of them dangerous and particularly from Haaland. However, he succumbed to the Norwegian, who rose to meet a cross from Argentine Enzo Fernandez and headed the ball into the corner of the net (47). Haaland then secured the win with a second goal, a curling shot following a pass from substitute Algerian Riyad Mahrez (90+1).

In another match, thanks to a late brace from Guinean Seydou Gueye (80, 85, penalty) and an own goal by Portuguese player Ronato Vega (53), German side Borussia Dortmund defeated visiting Spanish team Villarreal 3-2. Goals came from Uruguayan Santiago Morin (66) and Gueye, the latter scoring against his own team (3+90).

With a single, brilliant goal scored by Romanian Razvan Marin in the 21st minute from a free-kick, Greek side AEK Athens achieved a successful return to the competition after missing out since the 2018-2019 season, defeating visiting Austrian side LASK Linz.

Spanish side Real Betis overturned a deficit against numerically disadvantaged hosts Lille, turning a 1-2 loss into a 3-2 victory. Lille took the lead twice through Japanese player Aishi Oida (12) and Brazilian Alexsandro (36), after Marc Bartra had reduced the deficit (33). Bartra equalized again in the second half (49) before Irishman Troy Parrott added a third for the Spanish side (53). Lille finished the match with ten players after Ethan Mbappe, the younger brother of French national team captain and Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe, was sent off (56).